A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 06 eBook

of sundry warlike nations well armed. The Moors[86]
of Sumatra, Malacca, and the Moluccas were well disciplined,
and much better provided with artillery than we who
attacked them. The heathen sovereigns were the
kings of Bisnagar, Orixa, Bengal, Pegu, Siam, and
China, all very powerful, but chiefly the last, so
that it is difficult to express and scarcely credible
the prodigious extent of his power. Siam extends
above 500 leagues, and has seven subject kingdoms,
which are Cambodia, Como, Lanchaam, Cheneray, Chencran,
Chiamay, Canibarii, and Chaypumo. The king of
Siam has 30,000 elephants, 3000 of which are armed
for war, and he has 50,000 soldiers in Udia
alone, the metropolis of his kingdom. The kingdom
of China exceeds them all in extent, and the king of
that country is as powerful as all the sovereigns
in Europe together. His empire is above 700 leagues
in extent, possessing abundance of metals, and far
exceeds Europe in manufactures, some of which seem
to exceed human art, and the silks, provisions, and
luxuries with which it abounds are beyond computation.

[Footnote 86: These are unquestionably the Malays,
called Moors by Faria, merely because they were Mahometans.—­E.]

All the heathens of India, particularly between the
Indus and Ganges, write without ink on palm leaves,
with pens or stiles rather of wood or steel, which
easily cut the letters on the leaves. Some of
these I have seen in Rome curiously folded. What
they intend to be lasting is carved on stone or copper.
In writing they begin at the left hand and write towards
the right, as we do in Europe. Their histories
are extremely fabulous. About 600 years before
the arrival of the Portuguese in India, there reigned
in Malabar a powerful monarch, from, whose reign the
people begin their era or historical computations,
as they did afterwards from our arrival. This
king was persuaded by the Moors who traded to his
port to turn Mahometan, and gave them liberty to build
houses at Calicut. When he grew old, he divided
his kingdom among his kindred, giving Coulam to the
chief, where he placed the principal seat of his religion
of the Bramins, and gave him the title of Cobritim,
which signifies high-priest. To his nephew he
gave Calicut, with the tide of Zamorin, which means
emperor. This dignity continues in the sovereign
of Calicut, but the other has been removed to Cochin.
Having disposed of his dominions, he resolved to die
at Mecca, but was drowned by the way. Calicut
is a plain country well watered, and abounds in pepper
and ginger; but all the other spices are procured from
other neighbouring countries. The inhabitants
are wonderfully superstitious, and do not suffer those
of one trade or profession to marry with those of
a different occupation, or to put their children to
learn any other trade but that of their fathers.
The Nayres, who are their nobles, if they chance
to touch any of the common people, purify themselves
by ablution, as was done by the Jews and Samaritans.
The women among the Nayres axe common to all, but
chiefly those, of the Bramin cast, so that no one
knows his father, nor is any one bound to maintain
the children. These Nayres are wonderfully expert
in the use of their weapons, in which they begin to
exercise themselves at seven years of age. They
are prone to all the ancient superstitions of augury
and divination.